CVE-2020-36167
Published: 06 January 2021
Summary
CVE-2020-36167 is a critical-severity Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type (CWE-434) vulnerability in Veritas Backup Exec. Its CVSS base score is 9.3 (Critical).
Operationally, ranked at the 16.0th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2020-23745
Vulnerability details
An issue was discovered in the server in Veritas Backup Exec through 16.2, 20.6 before hotfix 298543, and 21.1 before hotfix 657517. On start-up, it loads the OpenSSL library from the Installation folder. This library in turn attempts to load…
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the /usr/local/ssl/openssl.cnf configuration file, which may not exist. On Windows systems, this path could translate to <drive>:\usr\local\ssl\openssl.cnf. A low privileged user can create a :\usr\local\ssl\openssl.cnf configuration file to load a malicious OpenSSL engine, resulting in arbitrary code execution as SYSTEM when the service starts. This gives the attacker administrator access on the system, allowing the attacker (by default) to access all data, access all installed applications, etc. If the system is also an Active Directory domain controller, then this can affect the entire domain.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Likely Mitigating Controls AI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.
Requiring identifiable owners for portable devices reduces the attack surface for unrestricted uploads of dangerous file types via anonymous media.
Dangerous file uploads can be detonated in the chamber to determine malice before any production write or execution occurs.
Prevents unrestricted writing of arbitrary or malicious firmware by keeping hardware write-protect enabled except under tightly controlled manual procedures.
Scans files from external sources on download/open/execute, blocking unrestricted uploads of dangerous file types.